Back-filling blade for a power shovel



y 4, 1965 N. DISCENZA 3,181,256

BACK-FILLING BLADE FOR A POWER SHOVEL Original Filed June 30. 1960 FIG.3

IN V EN TOR. )VEL 501v DIScEA/ZA HTTOENEY.

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United States Patent 3,181,256 BAQK-FILLING BLADE FOR A PUWER SHOVELNelson Discenza, 90 Lancaster Road, West Hartford, Conn.

Original application June 30, 1950, Ser. No. 40,001, now Patent No.3,043,032, dated July 10, 1962. Divided and this application Mar. 28,1962, Ser. No. 191,385

4 Claims. (Cl. 37-1175) This invention relates to earth moving equipmentand more particularly to back-filling blade attachments for the bucketof a power shovel for extending its range of effective operation toback-filling and grading work. This application is a division of myco-pending application Serial No. 40,001, filed on June 30, 1960, nowPatent No. 3,043,032.

The art of earth moving has undergone revolutionary changes withinrecent years. Innovations and improvements in equipment and techniquehave taken place which heretofore were undreamed of. Huge,self-propelled vehicles are now available which are capable oftransporting tons of earth easily, quickly and conveniently over terrainwhich would formerly have been impassable. Great giants of machinery cannow level or move whole hills with relative ease. Earth moving equipmentis available today which can accomplish in a single day what formerlyrequired weeks or even months of arduous hand labor.

My invention, however, relates to a category of earth working apparatusand technique which has remained relatively unchanged while such greatforward strides were being accomplished in development of heavyequipment and its use. Considered individually, the magnitude of smallexcavation projects such as trench digging or residential excavatingdoes not compare with that of highway installation or industrialdevelopment. Collec tively, however, many thousands of man hours of handlabor are required to dig and fill small excavations labor which mightotherwise be put to use in a far greater productive capacity. Theinstallation of water or sewer pipes, for example, extending between atypical urban residence and a street main, necessitates digging a trenchtherebetween approximately four to eight feet in depth. Small, mobilepower shovels designed for work of this general type efficiently disposeof the necessary excavation, depositing the dirt removed therefrom onthe surface adjacent to the trench. Once the trench is dug, however, andthe pipe laid, hours of laborious hand work must be spent by men withshovels back-filling the trench, and an even greater number of hoursspent shoveling and raking in an effort to clean up and return the areaof excavation to its former condition.

By using my improved back-filling blade attachment, however, the samepower-shovel used to dig the trench may be speedily converted for use toefficiently, quickly 7 and economically return the excavated dirt to thetrench from whence it was removed. By simply attaching my back-fillingblade to the bucket of the power shovel, the shovel may be used eitherto push or pull the mounds of dirt previously deposited along the edgeof the trench into the excavation. Since my back-filling blade shieldsthe digging teeth of the bucket, there is no danger of their gouging orscarring an established lawn as the edge of the blade is drawn along thesurface thereof.

Earth moving equipment of the bulldozer type is frequently employed inan efiort to minimize the hand work associated with back-filling.Effective use of such equipment, however, is restricted because of therelatively large amount of operating area required therefor, and isprohibited in areas having established lawns and landscaping unlessthere is no concern for probable damage thereto.

At best, the conventional bulldozer can accomplish only rough gradingleaving a substantial amount of finish work to be accomplished by handlabor. The use of a bulldozer also involves bringing another piece ofheavy equipment to the job site which not only compounds schedulingproblems but is also an additional expense.

The use of my improved back-filling blade attachment, however, permits apower shovel operator of ordinary skill to perform, in addition to theexcavating operation, both the back-filling of the bulldozer and theclean-up" finish grading heretofore of necessity done by hand laborusing picks, shovels and rakes. A trench or the like may be rapidly andinexpensively back-filled, and rough and finish grading may beaccomplished with the same equipment and with the economy and efficiencyof modern mechanizationutilizing only one piece of equipment forexcavating, back-filling and grading.

A primary object of the invention is to provide an attachment for powershovels and the like which will extend their field of effectiveoperation and Permit their use for back-filling and grading.

A further object of the invention is the provision of such an attachmenthaving means cooperable with the teeth on the bucket for positioning theattachment thereon.

Another object of my invention is to provide an attachment that can beconveniently and securely aflixed to the bucket of a power shovel andwhich will greatly increase the utility thereof.

Still another object is to provide an improved attachment for a powershovel, the use of which will virtually eliminate the expense of costlyhand labor in back-filling trenches and like excavations.

A still further object is to provide such an attachment which may bedetachably secured to the bucket of a power shovel.

Another object is to provide such an attachment cooperable with theteeth on the bucket whereby said teeth may be sheathed to preventscarring or gouging of established lawns.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will be more clearlyunderstood from the following description and accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is an elevational side View showing my attachment mounted uponthe bucket of a conventional power shovel.

FIG. 2 is an isometric front view of said attachment.

PEG. 3 is a sectional side view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

As shown in the drawings, the numeral 5 denotes the bucket of aconventional power shovel. Said bucket is pivotally mounted on a boom 6and is operated by a control bar 7 in the well-known manner. The bucketis provided with a series of spaced teeth 3 which project from the loweredge thereof and are adapted to bite into the earth when said bucket isused for digging opera tions.

Referring to the drawing, the said attachment comprises a plate 18having a forwardly inclined lower portion 19. The two side and upperedges of said plate 18 are provided with forwardly extending flanges20-20 and 21 respectively to confine, insofar as possible, the fill orearth to said plate and thereby increase the capacity thereof. Ifdesired, the flanges 20-20 may be extended along the edges of theportion 19, as at 20a. The said flanges further tend to increase thestrength and rigidity of the device.

The said lower portion iii of the plate 18 is inclined far- Wardly andis provided on the rear side thereof with a supporting bar 22 rigidlysecured thereto. Said bar extends longitudinally of the plate and ispositioned so as to restin the angle 23 formed by the front surface ofthe teeth 8 and the side of the bucket as shown in FIG. 1 when theback-filling blade of my invention is positioned on said bucket. Theangle formed by the front plate and the lower portion thereof is suchthat the rear surface of the plate 18 rests in abutting engagement witheach of the front edges of the sides of the bucket while the lower ormarginal edge 24 of the lower portion '19 thereof rests upon the uppersurface of said teeth and extends slightly forward thereof.

The said plate 18 is provided with rearwardly extending flanges 25-25adapted to receive the bucket 5 therebetween and to be secured to saidbucket by means of suitable belts 26 which'extend through holes25-a-25-a in the flanges 25-25 and through aligned holes in the sides ofsaid bucket.

A guard plate 27 may be provided to extend upwardly from the plate 18and across the upper portion of the bucket 5 whereby to prevent thespilling of earth into the bucket during the back-filling operation. Theweight of earth is well known and if the bucket were to become filled,the productive efficiency of the power shovel would be greatly reducedsince much of its usable horsepower would be wasted in merely carryingabout the dead weight of a bucket filled with earth.

When mounting my back-filling attachment to the bucket of a conventionalpower shovel it is simply positioned thereon with the bar 22 resting inthe angle 23 .and removably secured thereon by the bolts 26-26 asaforementioned.

I claim:

1. In combination with an excavating bucket of the type having opposedsides, an open front, and a plurality of laterally spaced digging teethalong the lower forward edge thereof, a back-filling attachmentcomprising a blade including an elongated front plate of generallyrectangular form attached to said bucket in a substantially uprightposition and extending outwardly of said opposed sides thereof with itslongitudinal axis substantially parallel to the ground, said bladehaving a relatively fiat upper portion and a forwardly angled lowerportion, said angled lower portion overlying and shielding saidplurality of teeth to prevent scarring of the ground when said shovel isconverted to back-filling purposes, a longitudinally extendingsupporting bar along the back of said angled portion in engagement withthe base of said teeth, said blade having upper abutment surfaces inengagement with the sides of said bucket, and means for removablysecuring said abutment surfaces to said opposed sides.

2. In combination with an excavating bucket of the type having opposedsides, an open front and a plurality of laterally spaced digging teethalong the front edge thereof, a back-filling attachment comprising anelongated front plate having a lower portion inclined forwardlytherefrom, a longitudinal bar secured to the rear surface of said lowerportion inwardly of the lower front edge thereof and in abuttingengagement with the front surface of said teeth and the front edges ofsaid opposed sides of said bucket for locating and positioning saidattachment on said bucket, and attaching means secured to the rearsurface of said front plate and extending rearwardly thereof anddetachably connected to the opposite sides of said bucket whereby thesaid bucket is adapted for use in backfilling trenches and the like.

3. An attachment as set forth in claim 2 wherein portions of said frontplate extend laterally beyond said opposed sides of said bucket.

4. An attachment as set forth in claim 3 wherein the said supporting barextends for the full length of said plate thereby supporting theextending portion thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,712,853 5/29Taylor.

1,765,892 6/30 Wagner 37-144 2,644,251 7/53 Smith 37-1175 2,965,98912/60 Hibbard.

BENJAMIN HERSH, Primary Examiner.

RICHARD DOUGLAS, Examiner.

1. IN COMBINATION WITH AN EXCAVATING BUCKET OF THE TYPE HAVING OPPOSEDSIDES, AN OPEN FRONT, AND A PLURALITY OF LATERALLY SPACED DIGGING TEETHALONG THE LOWER FORWARD EDGE THEREOF, BACK-FILLING ATTACHMENT COMPRISINGA BLADE INCLUDING AN ELONGATED FRONT PLATE OF GENERALLY RECTANGULAR FORMATTACHED TO SAID BUCKET IN A SUBSTANTIALLY UPRIGHT POSITION ANDEXTENDING OUTWARDLY OF SAID OPPOSED SIDES THEREOF WITH ITS LONGITUDINALAXIS SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE GROUND, SAID BLADE HAVING ARELATIVELY FLAT UPPER PORTION AND A FORWARDLY ANGLED LOWER PORTION, SAIDANGLED LOWER PORTION OVERLYING AND SHIEDING SAID PLURALITY OF TEETH TOPREVENT SCARRING OF THE GROUND WHEN SAID SHOVEL IS CONVERTED TOBACK-FILLING PURPOSED, A LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING SUPPORTING BAR ALONGTHE BACK OF SAID ANGLED PORTION IN ENGAGEMENT WITH THE BASE OF SAIDTEETH, SAID BLADE HAVING UPPER ABUTMENT SURFACES IN ENGAGEMENT WITH THESIDES OF SAID BUCKET, AND MEANS FOR REMOVABLY SECURING SAID ABUTMENTSURFACES TO SAID OPPOSED SIDES.